all your desert songs
by The Lady Avaritia
Summary: have brought us here. Revenge is a dish best served cold. AU


**Title:** all your desert songs

**Rating:** T  
**Spoilers: **general

**Characters**:  
**Summary: **have brought us here. AU

**Disclaimer: **disclaimed

**Hello everyone! This is my entry for StormDragon666's newest competition. I hope you will like it and, later, go vote for it on her is the revamped, alternative, slightly darker and more sinister version of my Madara/Orochimaru one-shot **_Your Kingdom's Border**, but with an Uchiha spin to it.  
**_

**Please enjoy.**

**Begin:12:49 am  
**

So, it begins like this, really:

The laboratory (_S-27, his very own personal lab_) is empty, completely empty. The polished tops of the tables, the gleaming equipment, the locked cabinets with ingredients for one poison or another, the shining steel surface of the autopsy tables, where he would cut people (_things_) open…

The luminous fluorescent light pours harsh and unforgiving; its cold glow gives nothing. Orochimaru eyes the newest project of interest. Latex covered fingers trace gently the contours of a roguishly handsome face.

_Is that grief? _

No, he doesn't think so.

Kabuto has been sent away. (_Leave, go away, you are of no use to me here, I don't need you, you did not know him, you do not understand, LEAVE!)_ and Sasuke is somewhere (_petty child who sits and plots his death, Orochimaru is grief stricken but not blind_).

So he is all alone with his lover, who is not his lover anymore. He steels his grip on the scalpels, holds it tightly until his knuckles turn an ugly marrow-white beneath the sheen of protection the gloves provide.

He presses the blade against the junction of the collarbone. One smooth slice of the top layer of the skin, to get to the muscle beneath…

Halt. He can't. just like that, he can't. The scalpel drops with a deafening clatter on the tiled floor, just as Orochimaru drops all his incentive (_if he'd had any to begin with_). Not this one, he thinks, not this one. Any, but this one.

He cups the cold face, relaxed in the hands of death, traces with his breath the closed eyes, and in him something dull throbs, much like the heart he'd forsaken all those years ago.

(_come back, come back, I need you, we need you, Konoha needs you, Orochimaru, please, come back, and all he did was laugh_)

Reversed roles.

(_Damn it, come back, Jiraiya, why isn't the jutsu working, there's a human sacrifice, there's the blood on my hands, come back, I'm putting the chakra into it, why won't you come back, damn it! And all he gets is silence_)

Isn't this the whole point of this grim ordeal? Cut the bastard open, why didn't it work? It always works?

_DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!_

And the clatter of the instruments from the overturned table is not nearly as satisfying s it should be.

'Akatsuki,' the name drops from his lips like a curse, a prayer and the answer to the world. '_Akatsuki_,' a voice like snakes slithering on silk.

(_and he'd always thought petty and vindictive to be Sasuke's thing, but apparently not. And isn't this petty, really? The death of a denounced friend and lover, whom he left years ago… still… the foolish organization, should have known better than to touch the things that still bear his mark. _

_Time for petty vengeance_.)

And so it starts, with the death of an old friend and a foiled attempt at murder later in the evening

(_because Sasuke just doesn't know when to stop, and clearly, he hasn't been trashed enough around the dojo floor in recent days_)

the greatest war is about to be fought and lost.

~x~

The beginning moves onto Konoha, where it's marked by the arrival of a black carriage with tinted windows and a meeting in the Hokage's office.

Doors locked, windows barreled, and Tsunade with her fingers laced under her chin, Shizune stands behind her, and Ton-Ton is uncharacteristically silent, just as Kakashi is, uncharacteristically, on time and dressed in ANBU garb. Sakura eyes the situation with narrowed eyes, while Naruto stays darkly silent at her side.

'Sakura, Naruto,' the Hokage begins, 'I have called you here in your positions of my personal apprentice and Hokage-elect respectively. What you see, what you hear and who you meet is to remain behind closed doors. Behind those closed doors. Am I understood?'

'Hai, Tsunade-sama!'

'You got it, baa-chan! Oi, Sakura-chan, no need to hit me!'

Tsunade sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

'Silence!' she bellowed. She was itching for a sip of sake, but Shizune had had the audacity to hide all alcohol from the office. 'As you are well-aware, the Akatsuki has made a move of war by attacking one of our own.' She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. 'However, Jiraiya did manage to pass on what he discovered to our intelligence channels before,' she makes another ridiculously painful pause and thinks, _dammit woman, pull yourself together, just_… 'before,' another trail-off, _fuck, fuck, fuck…_

'In any case,' she finishes awkwardly, 'we now have more intel than we could have hoped, if not without his… sacrifice.' The sentence hangs limply in the air because the words just can't cover enough, just don't seem adequate. She locks eyes with Naruto, because he's the only one who understands, and Naruto nods brokenly.

'Lady Tsunade,' Kakashi breaks the heavy silence with effort, 'our guests have arrived.'

'Then escort them here,' she snaps, and rubs her forehead tiredly. She looks old, with her ashen skin and purple rings circling bloodshot eyes, while her hair hangs limply around her face like a dusty spider web. The red on her nails has chipped, and her lips are parched and covered with small bite marks from futile attempts to stifle her sobs at the news of Jiraiya's death.

Kakashi disappears. The Hokage straightens her shoulders and steels her gaze. Shizune adjusts her grip on Ton-Ton. Sakura tightens her fists. Naruto stares wistfully out the window, reminiscing about his sensei.

The door finally opens. Kakashi walks in first and behind him…

Sakura gapes, because honestly, behind step in the most handsome species of men she has ever laid her eyes on. The Inner drools and draws hearts in frenzy, much like she did before Sasuke

(_Before Sasuke left, before Sasuke was evil, before…. Stop.)_

The man who walks in first is young, with moonlight pale skin and a sharp, arrogant face. He is handsome in a sort of jerky, striking way, and he has thin lips, and straight nose. Indigo curls, wild and untamed, frame his face. He smirks at her in a painful familiar way as he stalks with cat-like grace towards the window and perches on the windowsill, casting his gaze over the unsuspecting village before. He looks like some lazy exotic feline, graceful and bustling with barely-contained energy.

Behind him walk in two men, both tall with long ash-black hair and beautiful faces, carved in ivory. _Brothers_, Sakura thinks, and she doesn't know why. The one who looks younger is gripping tightly a shining ebony cane with a dragon head on its top. There's a blade inside it, she can tell. His startling blue eyes take everything around him, and when he passes her a polite smile works itself on his lips and stays there. He is thin, slender, built for grace and speed and agility, not quite like the man who is his brother and who is built for raw power only, his body pleasing to the eyes, rippling with muscles, and tightly wired, waiting to snap at the nearest threat.

_Warriors_, Sakura thinks and doesn't know why, as the one with the cane sits in a chair before Tsunade's desk, clasping his hands over his cane, and the other stands behind him, hands on his brother's shoulders.

'Long time no see, Senju Tsunade-sama,' he says mildly, his voice gliding around like velvet over well-polished wood. There really is no other way to describe it.

'Long time indeed, Uchiha Izuna-san,' she replies smoothly, and Sakura can detect the barest hint of irritation before it hits her.

'Uchiha?' she gasps, speaking for the first time since the entry of those beautiful alluring creatures.

The one identified as Izuna turns to face her and blinks his glacier eyes at her. A dashing smile is sent her way. The one behind him studies her, an amused fire dancing in his crimson eyes. Damn it, she thinks, how didn't I notice the Sharingan before? _Fucking genjutsu weavers and their natural talents, fuck!_

The one at the window glances at her, briefly, ebony patterns swimming lazily in the crimson depth of his iris.

Tsunade sighs, perhaps for the umpteenth time.

'Yes.'

'But… the massacre… I thought…' she sputters.

'What you thought,' Izuna reprimands gently, 'and what is real, are always, two very different things, Haruno Sakura-san.' He blinks again, and again, and again, his long lashes brushing his high cheekbones. He pulls a white handkerchief from within his formal silk kimono and presses it to his right eye. It comes out stained with blood.

'Izuna,' his brother says softly. He smiles.

'Not to worry, Madara. This pair has a few more days to live,' he assures, and brushes the droplets of blood gathered in the lashes of his left eye.

'I suppose,' the one by the window, standing as yet unidentified says, 'that we should give a short history lesson here, to avoid being interrupted by pointless questioning. Hmm?' he raises an eyebrow in Tsunade's direction. He has a sharp voice, he rolls the vowels, drags out the _r's_ and hisses at the _s's_ and cuts his words out at the last syllable like he's stabbing a knife. Sakura is left with the impression of not one, but many accents layered over each other.

'It would be most useful, Shisui,' Tsunade says mildly.

(_And Sakura can swear she's heard Sasuke mention the name before.)_

~x~

And things start to fall apart when the uncut, unedited version of the Uchiha tumbles out of Shisui's thin lips in a burst of venomous, spiteful words meant to bite and to injure and it does not escape Sakura the way he keeps on repeating _"your village"_ and _"my clan"_, ensuring that the distinction is made clear.

Naruto has faded back, pretty much forgotten, something his teammate thought impossible until now. His fists are balled and he is shaking with barely-restrained anger.

'So Sasuke…' he finally manages between clenched teeth in a sort of ugly hiss-whisper that doesn't suit his sunshine-on-river-stones voice at all.

Madara nods.

'His whole life,' Naruto whispers brokenly, hands relaxing, 'his whole life…'

'An illusion.' Izuna says airily. He's given up on trying to dab the blood away, and the handkerchief is already sodden anyway, so now there's two clear pathways of caked blood on the sides of his beautiful face. 'Like many things in the life of an Uchiha.'

'And his brother…' Sakura mutters, shaking her head.

'His brother is a foolish man who believes in foolish ideals, the sacrificial lamb for the world and your village's collateral damage for the sake of you power-loving elders. He is not fit to be called Uchiha!' Shisui spits out furiously and Sakura wonders just how much he loved the other man.

(_because she knows, she knows that only love could breed such bitter hatred.)_

'Sob story time is over now,' Tsunade growls, 'We're not here to discuss Hiruzen's actions, or the council's actions or the Uchiha's actions. You chose to return to the village, Madara, and I want to know why.' She met his eyes, unflinching, fierce in a bold display of self-destructive bravery. The eldest live Uchiha threw his head back and laughed.

'It's good to see how some things never change. The Senju, disgustingly straight-forward as always, but tell me, Tsunade-sama… if it was to suit you… how long would it take for a kill order to make its way towards me?'

he'd leaned over the desk to brush elegant pale fingers over her cheek.

'None at all, Madara,' she replied, a smug smile lighting up her face at the surprise on his face. 'I would kill you myself. You, your brother, and whatever pathetic remnants of your clan I can find. Never once make the mistake of believing that I trust you.'

'_Oooh, fierce,_' he said pulling back, 'your word is good enough for me… for now. I can only hope my word is good enough for you. Hear out my proposition, and judge for yourself if you will accept it.'

'We're listening,' she gestured towards herself and the other occupants of the room.

'As you are well-aware,' Madara began softly, 'the Akatsuki is after the tailed beasts in a ridiculous plan to establish… a Utopian world via genjutsu. And the maniac with the resources to create such an organization is, I'm afraid, of my own flesh and blood.' He put his hand up to stop any words from being spoken. 'that being said, the Akatsuki operates controlled by him from the shadows, and he has at his disposition a wielder of the Rinnengan, and a few select freaks.'

'Among which is Itachi?' Tsunade interrupted.

'Yes. In any case… the Akatsuki so-called leader is nothing but a fraud who takes orders from an eye thief of my clan who seems to has taken over my personality. And he is planning to begin his slow path of world control beginning with Konoha. This…preposterous little man goes by the alias Tobi, and he is in possession of the Sharingan. And he is utterly, completely, bat-shit insane.'

'So… your plan of action?' Naruto asked quietly. 'According to what I've heard, you have the same qualities as he does…'

this brought a dark chuckle to the three Uchiha.

'Madara is a power-_craving_ maniac,' Shisui interjected softly and dispassionately, 'Tobi is a power-_crazed_ maniac. There's a slight difference.'

Izuna shot him an effective glare and blinked furiously another bloody tear.

'It is quite simple, really. Ally myself with Konoha, and annihilate the Akatsuki, while effectively capturing Tobi dead or alive and retrieving his eyeball for Izuna.'

'It seems straight-forward enough,' Kakashi spoke slowly, for the first time, 'so what's the catch?'

'No catch, not really. I just want what rightfully belongs to me and my clan. A place back behind the Konoha walls. It's all we're ever wanted really.'

'and a Hokage seat,' Tsunade reminded him with a dark scowl.

'At this point, Lady Tsunade,' Izuna said mildly, 'a seat on the village council of elders will suffice just as fine. I have heard a great lot about the privileges of this position… some of them have greatly benefited Danzo, have they not?'

another mirthless chuckle was shared by the Uchiha. Sakura was uneasy. She did not like or trust those beautiful creatures, not even a little. They reminded her of Orochimaru back in the forest of death, so, so painfully long ago.

'What about Sasuke?' she finally asked, meeting the eyes of the room as they turned on her.

'What about him?' Madara asked incredulously, as if he didn't quite understand the question.

'Aren't we going to warn him? To explain to him, to get him back?' she demanded.

'Orochimaru is sure to join whichever alliance stands against Akatsuki in this war. At least, this is what I have been told,' Madara said softly, 'So long as Sasuke remains at his side, he is as safe as he can be. We cannot afford to spare any time for petty occasions, not when Rain is already gathering troops and messengers between Mist, Lightning and Ame are flying in all directions.'

'What about Itachi then?' she snapped angrily, turning to face Shisui, 'Are you going to let him die on Akatsuki's side as well? He is a spy, so surely, you can pull him out!'

Shisui shook his head, slowly and did not look at her.

'Itachi can rot in hell,' he whispered.

'I see,' Naruto said quietly. It was his turn to be angry, now, 'I see. So that's how it is? You come here, you spawn all of this… bull-shit about trust and friendship and alliance and family and what-not, but you cannot be bothered to save two brothers, two men of your own flesh and blood because it will be too much effort?' he was yelling at that point.

In a blink Shisui was on him, thin fingers wrapped around a sun-kissed throat as he slammed the blonde into the wall, and forced the blue eyes to meet his own cursed Sharingan.

'Don't you _dare_,' he hissed, '_don't you dare speak to me about family loyalty.' _He shoved him into the wall again. _'You know nothing_!'

he let Naruto slide down to the floor and gave him a vicious kick in the ribs for good measure.

'Shisui,' Izuna reprimanded softly and rested the top of his cane on the younger man's bony shoulder. 'We are not hear to fight and injure. Apologize.'

'Forgive me,' Shisui spat. 'I shall wait for you in the carriage,' without waiting for a response he stalked off.

'Please… forgive Shisui's actions,' Madara said quietly. 'It should do you well to know… he was the first one Itachi killed, days before the massacre. Well… tried to anyway, by drowning him in the Nakano. It was by sheer luck of his early manifested ability that Shisui managed to convince him of his success.'

'Oh,' Naruto said softly. He wondered, how much this betrayal must have damaged Shisui's faith in the Uchiha, and in Itachi. In way, he was just like Sasuke.

'We will take no action to remove either brother from their current position. If Konoha wishes to attempt to do so, they can, but do not rely on our help,' Izuna said. 'Now, please excuse us. We shall take our leave.'

He turned around, ready to follow his brother though the door.

'Izuna!' Tsunade called.

'Yes?' a polite raise of the eyebrow.

'Make sure I don't find any eye-less corpses around,' she said.

The only response she received was a joyous laugh that Sakura thought absolutely beautiful, while Naruto cringed and rubbed his sides.

~x~

Anything Orochimaru had ever done to Sasuke, had been done with Sasuke's consent. Their heated nights together, when it had been all lips, tongues, teeth, hands, chests, skin… Sasuke had wanted all of it, had wanted more. He was not ashamed to admit that Orochimaru was his first, but he was as good as any other lover, and perhaps even better. The first night he'd been surprisingly gentle, his kisses hesitant, and his touches soft.

The nights after… not so much. He was demanding, and he was skilled, and Sasuke very much enjoyed the time spent in a different kind of training.

Orochimaru enjoyed his time with Sasuke as well. The boy was small in stature, his shoulders fitting perfectly into the older man's arms. His alabaster skin bruised easily, and his onyx eyes were beautiful when clouded with lust. He was slender in build, but he was also strong.

The sannin enjoyed him far more, perhaps, than he had enjoyed Itachi's company the only time he had shared it. Sasuke was more durable, certainly, and a lot more forgiving when it came to bruises and bite-marks the morning after. He was wild, putting in fucking the same anger he put in fighting. Itachi, in their brief night encounter, when the prodigy was still young, and broken, and needy, had been timid and still, almost like he didn't feel anything.

No. Orochimaru found far more pleasure in Sasuke's fire.

And then of course, and he should've seen it coming, the boy

(_who had clung to him in the death of night, slender arms wrapped around his neck, and soft full lips whispering his name like a prayer_)

the boy tries to kill him. In his bedroom, in his bed, the boy tries to put a sword through him.

(yet again, as he has tried many times before, but Orochimaru no longer holds patience for childish games)

It's laughable. And Orochimaru wants to ask _why? Why, Sasuke? Didn't I uphold my end of the deal? Have I lied to you? I did all I promised and more? _

But there's no time for such questions. Instead, Orochimaru lashes out like a wounded animal. He, in his lonely bitterness, simply rages, blindly furiously, just trying to live for the sake of life, just to spite the world. he grapples on, desperate to survive, for the sake of survival, because life meant victory, and he would live forever.

Sasuke dies, that night. Perhaps he had been dead for a long time ever since a beautiful prodigy slaughtered all kin like one might slaughter a flock of crows. But there's the thing with crows – as long as there's even one left of the original flock, it will go after you, it will try to tear your eyes out, it will try to get revenge.

Orochimaru hardly cares.

He slices through Sasuke's abdomen in one smooth clean cut, and blood splatters his arm and the side of his face, a stark contrast against his white skin.

Sasuke dies.

The first visible cracks appear, and perhaps a tiny piece falls off. In any case… things start falling apart more freely than before.

~x~

in the wake of war everything seems peaceful. Everyone knows where they stand. Loyalties have been chosen. Akatsuki will strike the offensive. Tobi is despised, now more than ever. The Allied Shinobi Forces are good. They are right. They are justified. All their opponents, immoral beings that they are, should cower in fear.

The Jashinists who live in Rice Country have set back, neutral as ever, the two warring fractions of the religion that grants immortality, for once at peace with each other. All eyes are turned on Konoha. Konoha, the village of light. The village that will bring all darkness down.

This is how war has been fought ever since the days of the First Hokage.

And then… the unthinkable happens. So sudden, so surprising…

It's one of those summer days, when even the sun is lazy. The heat is like a giant oppressor, determined to melt the fighting armies into the ground. This time, Konoha was on the verge of loss.

The three dark Uchiha fighters, the last ones left, the last ones that matter, as it is, are not on the battlefield, and their absence is well-felt, piercing, wrenching, like a penknife in the gut.

Konoha's fruitful soils are buried under the rotting bodies of dead. the stench in the air is like a punch in the nose. The clink of gear is rising to a crescendo. Honorable men prepare to die with the name of their motherland on their lips. And then… the other army strikes.

Not Madara's. Not Konoha's. Not Akatsuki's. An army of fresh soldiers, with polished amour and sharpened weapons.

'_Reinforcements! See? Reinforcements!'_ the cry goes all through the battlefield. This is all the weary fighters need to throw themselves into battle with renewed vigor. _Is it Suna? Is it Mist? Does it matter? The reinforcements have arrived. _

The enemy is crushed. The commanders retreat. Konoha celebrates. People dance in the streets. It has been so long since there was a breach in the fighting. Grimy bloody soldiers embrace civilian housewives, children sing, and dance!

_We won the battle, we won the battle!_

The Hokage, who has been a ghost of herself, a crumbling pillar, is suddenly alive, and her eyes dance.

She goes to greet the commander of the new unit. It's probably Suna, they received a letter for help first. It isn't Suna.

It's Sound. The commander of the unit is a young man with long silver hair. Yakushi Kabuto. A traitor to Konoha. A spy for Orochimaru. He has cold eyes and pleasant smile. He greets Tsunade formally.

'_My master wishes to ally himself with Konoha.'_

'_Why?'_

'_I do not know.'_

'_If he wishes it, he should come in person.'_

'_I will inform him.'_

The Sound nin camp in front of the Konoha gate. They are not allowed into the village for anything other than necessities. They are all young savage people. Children. Killers. There is no difference. Tsunade has seen too many great wars in her lifetime.

Orochimaru comes a week later. His old teammate greets him. He looks as he looked when he first left. Not a day older than twenty one. His eyes, golden and captivating, his high cheekbones, smooth pale skin, and thin lips twisted into an arrogant smirk. He is shielding himself from her. He doesn't trust her. Good. She doesn't trust him either.

'Maru.' Tsunade whispers first, staring at him wide eyed. He looks regal, in the blowing violet robes of the Sound Country lord. His sharpness softens, his smirk eases just a tad bit more into a real smile.

'Is that really you?'

He laughs a slow sensuous sound.

'Tsu~na~de~san,' he croons softly.

'Why are you here?'

'I want to ally myself with Konoha. Fight on your side once more. Akatsuki… no, Tobi… took a very precious person from me. This, I cannot forgive.'

'Jiraiya?' Tsunade questions, desperately. She needs to know if there's still a part of the old Orochimaru left, if there's still a part of him that is even remotely human, even remotely capable of the love he used to have for his team and his village.

He raises an eyebrow, challenges.

'What do you think?' he asks with a tilt of his lips in that familiar smirk.

'You killed sensei.'

He laughs again, coldly, bitterly, jagged glass shards stabbing the night.

'He deserved it,' the words drop venomously.

She sighs.

'Konoha accepts Sound's alliance,' she says, and her bones ache, and she feels tired and old.

He nods.

'Good,' he says. 'I should inform my troops.'

He turns his back on her, as he has always done, and prepares to walk anyway.

'Maru, wait!'

He half-turns, expectantly.

'What is it, Tsunade-san?' he sounds old and weary too.

'Come back,' she says. 'Come back here,' she gestures towards the air around her. 'Come back to me. Be my lover again. Like before. Just… return to me. To us. To Konoha. Jiraiya would have wanted it.'

'But Jiraiya is dead,' he hisses at her. She recoils.

'I make myself your ally. I give you my army. Make no mistake, Tsunade. I am not back for good. I want Konoha destroyed. But I want it destroyed on my terms. I am not your teammate, anymore, neither am I your friend. We are enemies, but we have allied against a greater enemy.'

He may as well have struck her. His words rain on her like blows, leave her cut up and bruised, go past her defenses. She wavers on her heels. This is Orochimaru. Her Orochimaru. She loved him so.

'I do not love you anymore, Tsunade. And I am no longer your lover.'

His voice is brittle, dusty and tired. Almost as if he doesn't believe himself quite enough. Denial on the rocks, and make it hard.

'STOP THIS!' she yells. 'Just stop this!' tears are running down her eyes. 'If you don't love me… if you don't care… why are you doing this then? To me? To yourself? Why? _ANSWER ME!_'

she throws herself at him, because damn it, he is hers. Her teammate, friend, brother, lover, her everything, he is all she has left. She beats at his rock hard chest with her fists, and then she kisses him on the lips. They're cold, and they taste like blood. He pushes her away. Not roughly, but firmly.

'I am not yours anymore Tsunade,' he tells her, once again, repeats it quietly and slowly, like he's talking to a child, 'I can never come back to you as of old.'

This time she nods numbly, lower lip still quivering. He presses his lips to her forehead.

~x~

In her office Madara has helped himself to her stash of sake and Izuna studies her with a pair of green eyes snatched from a corpse on the battlefield.

'I don't like telling people "I told you so" but _I did tell you so_,' Madara says gleefully, and the triumph dancing in his eyes is almost too much to bear.

'_He'll ally himself with whoever is against the Akatsuki,_' Izuna smiles savagely as he studies the make-shift game-board which represents the state of battle at present. With an expert move he wipes out several Rain battalions.

'But Sasuke is dead,' she says quietly, 'and Naruto may as well be dead too, for all he's done since getting the news.'

Madara shrugs.

'Orochimaru is temperamental bastard and Sasuke is an insolent child. It would've happened, one way or another. But Orochimaru being here… this is good. His ninja are trained assassins. He may not have many, but the select few that make up his army the elite. Think… ANBU level elite.'

Tsunade grabs the sake from his outstretched hand and downs it as medicine against the dull ache in her chest.

'_They're children_,' she says wearily.

'All of us were children once,' Izuna tells her softly, and rubs his eyes tiredly. 'I am just waiting for a Hyuga to drop dead,' he mutters, annoyed. 'The byakugan lasts me for at least three weeks. These,' he taps his temple irritated, 'barely go for one!'

'How unfortunate for you,' Tsunade snaps at him. 'You should be grateful I managed to keep Hiashi from organizing a riot among the clans when he found out the Uchiha are back!'

Madara shook his head.

'You could've given a massacre order. I'm sure his prodigy… Neji, would've gladly carried it out. As far as I remember, the _government sponsored genocide_ clause the Konoha Constitution still stands since the day You grand-father forced me to sign it.' He sounds bitter and wistful at the same time, like he longs for those passed days.

'I am not my grandfather.'

'Oh no,' Izuna says with a soft chuckle and shakes his head, 'Kami forbid!'

~x~

The Sound shinobi are allowed within the Konoha walls. Orochimaru's medics flood in the hospital and ease the work of the exhausted Konoha healers. His troops, in small organized groups, strike down along the enemy line.

Two weeks. That's how long it lasts. Two weeks of relative calm. Of routine. Then _Dusk _strikes. It's a poison. A new poison. _Sasori's doing_, Orochimaru mutters, as he examines a corpse. It's fast and effective, and the Allied Forces are rapidly dropping in number.

'I know how he works,' Orochimaru says. 'I can break it,' he says. 'Give me your two top medics and a lab and seventy-two hours, and I'll give you an antidote.'

Tsunade nods, numbly, because Kakashi was among the first wave of stricken and it's oddly like losing Dan all over again.

~x~

Sakura does not trust Orochimaru. Sakura does not like Orochimaru. His eyes frighten her. His smile repulses her. His beauty attracts her.

Shizune is scared of Orochimaru. Even when she was a little girl, he'd always call her 'little mouse'. She'd never liked that nickname, especially since he was a snake.

Now they are alone, the three of them, in a basement laboratory, working side by side. He jabs the needle with the poison sample in the visible blue vein of his left forearm.

'We have exactly seventy-two hours to figure out a way to stop this thing from killing me,' he informs them cheerfully.

That's what poisoners do. That's the one certain way to make a good antidote. Every fifteen minutes he reports how he feels. The muscle spasms won't start until the second day, so for now, he stands beside Shizune, and works with her, giving her directions in a quiet voice. Apparently, he thinks Sakura doesn't require supervision.

'You look sad.'

He startles, and turns around to face her. Sakura is mixing a short-term cure for the fever that appeared a few hours back.

'Excuse me?'

'When you think they can't see you. you look sad. Are you…' she pauses and gulps, 'are you alright? And don't just… say you are. I know what this means, looking sad when you think no one can see you.'

'But you can see me, little mouse.'

'I don't count.'

He has nothing to reply to that. In silence, slowly, they break through the complicated composition of what is probably Sasori's greatest accomplishment.

Sakura is filled with malicious glee when she jams the syringe (_a lot more forcefully, perhaps, than was called for_) into the man's arm, and had him return to health.

'So very ingenious of you, Sakura-chan,' he congratulates her mockingly. She narrows her eyes at him, and storms out of the lab with the first batch of antidotes. Shizune remains behind, to clean the working area, and he lingers in the doorway.

'I think,' he begins softly, 'I think, little mouse, that I'm going to die soon.'

But he leaves before she can reply.

~x~

True to his word, Orochimaru is taken down by Shisui, and his pale body twists and writhes in the loving grasp of a brutal Amaterasu as his screams pierce the empty night air. Shisui finds it oddly satisfying, and he thinks of little Sasuke who grew up to be hateful and vengeful and oh, so very dead. With a twist of his lips and a jerk of his head he decides that snake bastard has had it coming for a long, long time.

He lets the cold winds scatter the ashes of the sinful man and whistles a tune as he walks the deserted (_evacuated_) streets of the village.

_Sing me to sleep_

_Your broken arms my final cradle_

_The ashes of your heart_

_And all your desert songs_

_Have brought us here_

_What have we to say_

_When all your word play_

_Could never silence_

_The thunder of my love_

_Your smile_

_Makes me fall apart_

_I am ever-present_

_You couldn't ever run_

_I seek to own you_

_I seek to choke you down_

_To bring you on your knees before me_

_Like sand in all its forms_

_And I will be_

_Your knight in rusty armor_

_At every corner_

_For you are mine_

_And darling, _

_I die of thirst_

_In the desert of your eyes_

_You hold no love for me, my queen_

A wicked smirk places itself on his lips as the words tumble through his mind and the whistling sound batters its way though his lips. Nothing feels quite like a morning well-spent and energy well-wasted.

~x~

'It's like visiting an entirely new place, somehow,' Izuna muses one evening. They are at the top of the Hokage tower, and below them the funeral pyres of the battlefield have colored the sky in a rusty strawberry orange in ugly spots all over the pristine dark blue of night's mourning cloth.

He is silently content, having finally gotten his hands on a pair of Hyuga eyeballs, and he honestly could care less if they belonged to the clan prodigy from the branch house.

'Mhmm,' Madara agrees from where he is sprawled on the ground, munching on a thin grass thread and studying the stars.

Shisui, leaning his back on a tree and scowling at the ground, says nothing.

'It's somewhat unreal,' Izuna continues, obviously in a talkative mood, '_If I could, I'd take a camera, a map and go round it like a tourist._ It's so… magnificent, what has happened to it since we left. Wouldn't you say so, brother? Brother? Madara, are you even listening to me?'

'Yes, Izuna, I am. I'm just thinking about how fascinating it is… the way things have played out. But yes… I wish I could take a tour as well. So much has changed, I hardly can believe this is the Konoha I left all these years ago. Like you said, an entirely new place.'

'Nothing new about it,' Shisui spoke finally, 'just debris. Does it matter?'

Madara laughed.

'See, brother,' he said, 'our young companion seems quite determined to spoil a perfectly wonderful night with his incessant scowling. Rejoice, Shisui! It's a beautiful summer evening, and you are young and immortal! Life's too long to be spent in bitterness.'

'You seem to forget, Madara,' Shisui speaks softly and dangerously, 'that I am not the only one here who has lost kin today.'

'Yes, but it hardly matters to me. I have never even met Itachi. Neither has Izuna, for that matter. You said it yourself… _he was unworthy of the Uchiha name_.'

Shisui shook his head.

'Don't you realize what that means?' he demands, glaring at the older man. 'There are no more Uchiha left! Once Tobi dies it will be just the three of us! Just the three of us! We will be _alone together for all eternity_! Does that mean nothing to you?'

'Why should it mean anything at all to us?' Izuna questions and turns around. He rolls his thin shoulders in a graceful shrug.

'We were quite content with being together forever, just the two of us all eternity long before you came around. If you find our company distasteful, by all means, find another one. The girl with the flower name… Sakura?'

the two ancient brothers laughed, and something in Shisui clenched, and whimpered and howled like a wounded animal.

~x~

Konoha falls.

Shisui, angry, irritable, impatient, is waiting for Tsunade in her office, the scowl on his face etched deeper than ever, and his lips twisted in a mockery of a smile.

'Shisui?' she questions. 'Can I help you?'

She has become somewhat more tired, almost painful to look at, a fallen idol in her fragility. The blow of Orochimaru's disappearance has made her duller. In the past weeks Madara all but leads the battles single-handedly, as the Hokage has become a void entity.

'Yes you can,' he responds levelly. 'And you will.'

He's on her before she can blink, Shunshin no Shisui, and she can't, she really can't fight him when she feels this old and brittle.

He allows himself to take a sort of bitter, perverse pleasure in the knowledge that he is the Uchiha to end the rivalry with the Senju by destroying the last member of the wretched clan. A sort of disgusting pride rots his heart at the thought that this is the second sannin he's killed. He sinks his slender pale fingers through her ribcage, wraps them around her heart and wrenches it out, then watches as her lifeless bopdy drops on the hardwood floor and almost feels sorry.

He walks out of the office, licking the blood from his fingers like a child licks a lollipop and whistles.

~x~

The signal for the attack has been given.

'_Obliterate Konoha.'_

The setting sun is dying the horizon a bright arterial red, while the blood on the streets quickly becomes matted with dust.

_Spare no woman, no child, no old. _

Madara's army in the cruelest onslaught onslaught.

The last Uchiha appears on the top of the Hokage tower, where his brother stands, watching the carnage before him unfold with a spinning Sharingan eye in one socket and a dull Byakugan in the other.

Tobi was, on the end, nothing more than a vengeful little boy with a vendetta for the village which sent him on a mission he was not prepared to take.

Somewhere in the Uchiha graveyard there's an empty space marked Obito which will never have a body in it. The body is already beginning to rot, strung up in the trees behind Izuna's back and mutilated beyond belief.

'It finally happened,' he says, coldly, darkly.

'About time,' the other man agrees, something akin to triumph in his voice.

Izuna turns around to face the other immortal. Madara's eyes glow like embers, and his hair, like a raven's wing, blows in the wind behind him.

Madara crosses the distance between them, and envelops the other man in his arms. Izuna is thinner than him, and, in this body, shorter, but his hands are stained the same – blood and death and ashes. The younger brother melts into the embrace.

'They deserve it,' he whispers brokenly, when he pulls away, 'every last wretched one of them, they deserve it,' he spits the last sentence out like it's something foul in his mouth.

'They do,' Madara agrees quietly. 'They all do.'

The Mangekyo spins, and the first indigo spark of the Amaterasu jumps in the air. The village wall is engulfed in the black flames, and everyone within it is trapped. The Allied Forces, the Akatsuki troops, Sound shinobi… everyone. Izuna leans back in his brother's arms and there's a sort of painful satisfaction in him, a malicious sense of triumph, a hurtful contentment that only comes to those who have completely destroyed their home.

'_I will never set foot back here again._' He whispers, but his voice dies in the cackle of the flames.

This is what justice tastes like.

By mid-day it's just him and Madara, walking the path of carnage, returning to nowhere, the sole survivors, the sole winners, of the war.

This is how the story ends.

~x~

'_You're beautiful.'_

'_Am I?'_

'_Oh, yes.'_

'_You're not that bad looking yourself.'_

'_Thanks…'_

'_I'm glad you're here?'_

'_Really? I thought I was being way too straightforward when I approached you.'_

'_Oh no, not at all. I like a woman who knows what she wants, really.'_

'_Hmm? And what do you want, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?'_

'_I'm definitely not that tall…'_

'_Oh, you're so arrogant…'_

'_Family trait. You love it.'_

'_Since when do you know what I want?'_

'_Well, I think we already established that you want me, Ms. Sexy, Medic-ninja Girl.'_

'_So the question remains yet again… What do you want?'_

'_A distraction, I desperately require a distraction.'_

'_And why is that?'_

'_I have a problem, I have a huge, huge problem, you see.'_

'_Oh?'_

'_I'm in love with a woman I can never have.'_

'_I knew it. I just knew it. I sure know how to pick them. Okay. So why can't you have her?'_

'_Because I'm bad for her, oh, Kami, I'm so bad for her and she doesn't know it…'_

'_You don't… trust yourself around her?'_

'_Darling…. I wouldn't trust myself around anyone.'_

'_And why is that?'_

'_Because I'm a bad, bad man. I'm a liar, a faker, a killer, and worst of all… I'm a horrible, horrible traitor.'_

'_All ninja are that at some point.'_

'_I've betrayed my village once… And I'm about to do it again.'_

'_Wha-? Shisui, what are talking about?'_

'_Hush now, Sakura. The water of the Nakano is far more soothing than it seems. I'd know.'_

'_No! Stop, get off of – '_

'_Goodbye, Sakura. Sweet dreams under water. I so wished I could take you with me.'_

**End: 15:46**_  
_

**_Oh, my, wasn't that nice?_  
**

**No. No it wasn't. It was a complete monster to write.  
**

**Anyway. Aren't you all proud of me? A story by Lady with no yaoi in it? What is our world coming to?  
**

**Conveniently, I am using this story to announce my temporary retreat from fanfiction. (Kind of hypocritical, since I'm doing it during an update binge.) Anyway, for more information, see the announcement on the very top of my profile.  
**

**And don't forget... the blue review button is right down there, and every time you click it, you help bring back one (1) Konoha citizen back from the dead.  
**

**That is all. Have a great day, and see you soon (hopefully)  
**

**xx  
**

**Lady  
**


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